Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Turn Up Intensity for Teruel GP

21-10-2020

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Turn Up Intensity for Teruel GP

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team return to the MotorLand Aragón in Spain this weekend for Round 11 of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales will once again be solely representing the Factory Yamaha Team at the MotorLand Aragón track this weekend. Having come close to a podium result last time out, he is determined to land a top-3 result at the Gran Premio de Teruel and make further strides in the championship standings.

Thanks to a fourth place at last week‘s Gran Premio Michelin de Aragón, Viñales is currently third in the overall rankings, just 12 points from the top and 6 points behind the rider in second place. For the Teruel GP, the Spaniard is fully motivated to continue working on the setting of his YZR-M1. His strategy is to play up the strong points of the Yamaha and further adapt his riding style to the Aragon track, which is one of his favourite circuits.

So far, Top Gun, has stood on the Aragon podium three times before. He secured a third place in 2011 in the 125cc class, a Moto3 second place finish in 2013, and a Moto2 victory in 2014. He would love nothing better than to add a podium result this time out, having secured fourth place four times in the MotoGP class in 2016, 2017, 2019, and last weekend.

Valentino Rossi is still recovering from his Covid-19 infection and will sit out the Gran Premio de Teruel event. Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP announced on Sunday 18 October that they decided not to enter a replacement rider to substitute for Rossi at this weekend‘s GP.

The MotorLand Aragón circuit is situated near the town of Alcañiz, a few hours' drive from Barcelona. The fast 5.1km long track has ten left and seven right corners, and a 968m longest straight. It was given the IRTA Best Grand Prix of the Year award after MotoGP‘s first visit there, reflecting the riders' and the fans' appreciation of the venue.

Maverick Viñales

"I‘m quite satisfied with how we started and finished last week‘s race. The opening lap and final laps were really good. Now we have to work on the middle part of the race. We are going to try again this weekend. We are going to focus on making the strong points of our bike stronger and I will again be concentrating on my riding style. Whenever we focus on these points we seem to do well – so that‘s our plan. We have the same objectives as we had last week: we want to start from the front row, make a good start, and then we‘ll see. We have nothing to lose in the championship, and we have a good mentality. It‘s a strange and demanding season for everyone, but we are keeping our spirits high. This is a good track for me, and Valencia and Portimão should be good too. We know we can do a good job at these tracks, but we‘re taking it one step at the time. First we are going to try to understand what we need to do to win here this weekend."

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director

"We couldn‘t be fully satisfied with last week‘s results. Though Maverick‘s standing in the championship classification improved, we wanted to be on the podium. Fourth place is always a bit of a bitter pill to swallow, especially because Maverick did come close to catching Mir in the final laps. That said, last week‘s fourth place is also a good motivator. We want to do better, and we know we can do better. The good thing about having another race in Aragon is that we have the data from last week, so we know in which areas we can improve for Sunday‘s race. Again it will be just Maverick riding for our team this weekend, so we can fully focus on helping him in his championship quest."